The White Guard

Howard Davies, one of the top theatre directors in the country, will be eligible for his bus pass in 2010 as he celebrates his sixty fifth birthday. One suspects that Davies, a miner’s son from County Durham, would approve of the older members of society benefiting from free transport as well as believing in the ideals of public transport. Certainly his work has often reflected an interest in the politics of the left.

This has been demonstrated in recent years with productions based on great Russian literature.

In 2007, he collaborated with the writer Andrew Upton on his new version of Gorky’s ‘Philistines’. The play won five star reviews and boasted an impressive ensemble cast of eighteen actors. It also sold many theatre tickets for the National Theatre.

Last year he directed a stage adaptation of one of the best Russian films of recent years, ‘Burnt by the Sun’. This similarly had a large and impressive cast and dealt with a rambling household which seems common to twentieth century Russian plays. Again the theatre tickets flew out of the door.

In 2010, he will continue his exploration of ‘things Russian’ with a production of ‘The White Palace’, a rarely performed play by Mikhail Bulgakov. Bulgakov was a literary genius who had an amazing imagination. Confronted with the tragic degeneration of the Russian Revolution and the rise of Stalinist oppression, he bravely produced great art in difficult circumstances. He requested permission to leave the Soviet Union, but this was refused and he died in 1940.The White Palace’ will be performed soon and previews will start on 15 March 2010. Theatre tickets are on sale now.

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